1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus utilized to fill storage bins with fruit or other produce and, more particularly, is related to the automatic and gentle placement of produce which is highly susceptible to bruising in large dry storage bins.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When large quantities of produce such as apples are harvested from the field, it is commercially desirable to store many of such apples in cold storage to increase their useful fresh life, providing the consuming public with fresh apples for several months after harvest time. Consequently, large quantities of apples are placed in cold storage after they are automatically sorted according to their size and grade. One integral step in this process is the actual depositing of the apples of like size and grade into large cold storage bins after the grading process. However, this depositing step becomes extremely critical to the integrity and quality of the apples, because apples are highly susceptible to bruising during their placement one on top of another in the large cold storage bins. An apple not only loses its commerical desirability whenever it acquires a bruise, but also it becomes a source of possible bacteria growth, rendering the apple and those adjacent it in storage inedible. Consequently, it is of extreme importance to gently place the apples in the storage bins without bruising them.
Various techniques have been considered to quickly, but gently, deposit apples in the large cold storage bins after they have been graded. One widely used method entails the use of a rather large water flow system. The apples are transported through flumes in which the apples proceed to a water filled bin and, after the filling of the bin with apples, the water is evacuated to provide a bin filled with apples with a minimum of damage to them.
Although the presently used flume method is generally satisfactory in preventing unwanted damage to the apples, the system requires a large amount of area with much heavy equipment necessary to transport the water used for carrying and depositing the apples. Further, it has been found that the system requires a significant amount of maintenance because of its contact with the water, rendering constant susceptibility to corrosion. Also, the exposure of the apples to water presents some potential problems in the fresh maintenance of the apples, since in some cases the wet apples and machinery may experience fungus growth. In addition, the water may acquire various chemicals found on the fruit which could present eventual problems to the machinery and the fruit during storage.
Most prior art mechanisms which have been designed to deposit articles from a supply conveyor into a dry storage bin do not address the problem which is incident with the storage of fruit or produce that is highly susceptible to bruising. Some mechanisms, such as disclosed in the Horgan U.S. Pat. No. 3,000,161 and Phillips et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,019,581, have been directed to the placement of cigarettes in storage containers wherein the cigarettes are placed in layers within the container. However, the devices shown in these patents do not include a delivery means to dampen and direct the flow of the articles onto others already in the container. Further, these patents do not disclose the use of a conveying means for gently supporting the movement of the articles through the apparatus. In other devices such as disclosed in the Griffith U.S. Pat. No. 2,889,676 and Wickam et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,106 there are conveyor systems which utilize a series of movable plates that contact the produce and move it along to place it within the container, resulting in possible bruising damage to the produce in the case of an item such as an apple. A further concept in the prior art, shown in the Hostetler U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,472, utilizes a tiltable bin filler wherein the filler mechanism receives the produce and then is tilted at an angle downward into the storage bin to allow the produce to flow into the bin, undoubtedly resulting in bruising damage to the produce.